Foil packaging rustled loudly as Dawn tore open the third jumbo bag of tortilla chips and upended it into a plastic bowl, lined up on the work surface with the two other filled bowls. She couldn't remember which flavour was in which bowl, just that one was salted, one was ranch, and the orange ones were obviously cheese. She crumpled the now empty packet and stuffed it into the bin in the corner, then picked up two bowls, balanced the third in-between and carefully carried her snacks out of the kitchen and into the living room. Willow and Tara were sprawled across the sofa reading from old books with cracked leather spines and ancient, dry and yellowed vellum pages. The coffee table in front of the sofa had vanished beneath a disorganised mountain of books on demons and strange beasts from folklore, myth and legend and the various other snacks and bottles and cans of drink Dawn had acquired already. Tara raised an eyebrow as she watched the teen shift things around to make room for the tortilla chips.
"Wow…Thinking of pulling an all-nighter, Dawnie?" She asked playfully.
"Reminds me of college." Willow said with a grin, leaning forwards and scooping up some of the ranch/salted chips. "Studying through the night with nothing but junk food and energy drinks to sustain us."
"Forgetting everything the next morning because your brain cells are all sleep deprived…" Tara teased her, tickling the back of her girlfriend's neck.
"Not everything." Willow laughed, hunching her shoulders and wriggling away to escape the tickling hand. She had to admit all-nighters had never been as beneficial as she had first thought they would be. Her brain had defiantly spat back out the things crammed into it after the lack of sleep began to take its toll.
"Well, I wasn't thinking of staying up all night." Dawn said, sitting cross legged at the coffee table and selecting a small book from the top of the pile. She knew flicking through countless books in search of a scrap of information, or a black ink sketch, to identify Buffy's demon, would send her to sleep long before morning arrived.
"Just most of it?" Willow asked with a conspiratorial smirk.
"Buffy would kill me." Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Good point…" Willow wrinkled her nose. Buffy was still protective over her sister, despite Dawn nearing adulthood.
"Are you still hungry?" Tara asked, eyeing up the chips, cookies, popcorn and multitude of other foods scattered across half of the coffee table. "We only had dinner an hour ago…"
"I'm not hungry." Dawn assured her. "Just might be later."
The doorbell rang and the trio exchanged glances, wondering who it could be visiting so late. No one had mentioned dropping by, and Buffy wouldn't be back from patrol for hours yet. Tara put down her book and stood up, making her way to the door. She peered through the peep hole and grinned as she recognized their guest waiting on the front porch. She stepped back and opened the door.
"Hi, Xander."
"Hi, Tara!" Xander said brightly with a broad grin. In his hands was a white rectangular box, which he lifted to show her. "I come bearing doughnuts!" He announced as he entered.
"That's um…Not really necessary…" She said with a sloped smile. She closed the door while Xander kicked off his shoes and hung up his jacket.
"No?" He asked.
"Dawn's brought a lot of food." She said, leading the way into the living room.
"And what Scooby research session isn't complete without copious amounts of sugar?" Xander asked, smiling at his friends as he neared the coffee table. "Evening ladies. Wow, Tara wasn't kidding!" He sat on the floor next to Dawn while Tara reclaimed her place beside Willow.
"There's plenty of room up here, y'know?" Willow said from the sofa, scooting up.
"Yes, but the food's down here…" Xander replied, diving into the tortilla chips while Dawn rummaged in the doughnut box and sat back with a classic sugar glazed ring.
"Don't get food on the books." Tara warned without looking up from her book. "You know how Giles feels about that…"
"Yes, mistress." Xander replied.
"What brings you here, anyway?" Willow asked her friend. "Wouldn't you rather be out there entertaining your pretty new lady than helping us research skanky old demons?" Her tone was playful, but still Xander shifted uncomfortably. They didn't know about the disastrous end to his last date. As far as they knew, things were going smoothly between him and Mona. The vampire. Or, more correctly, the pile of ash.
Both Dawn and Tara were looking at him too, waiting for his comment.
"Well. No…" He said awkwardly. "Things didn't work out so…This is now my social life." He gestured to the three of them and their oversized reading pile. "Again. Not that there's anything wrong with that."
Tara looked sympathetic.
"What happened?" She asked.
"Um…" Xander faltered. He hadn't prepared an excuse, and hastily scrounged around inside his brain for one.
"I bet she was a demon." Dawn sniggered, well aware of Xander's past dates. He scowled at her.
"No." He said stiffly. "I just…It didn't work out." He repeated.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Xander." Tara told him kindly.
"Me too." Dawn added, in case her teasing had insulted him.
"You'll find someone." Willow said with an encouraging smile. Xander returned the smile and shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't need to." He replied. "I'm happy right here as I am."
"Aw, we love you too!" Dawn told him, bumping his shoulder with her own. She licked sugar from her fingers as she finished off her doughnut
"I think that's enough sugar for you…" Willow told her. Xander chuckled and picked up a jam doughnut. The group lapsed into silence as their concentration returned to the books they were perusing. It was slow going as a lot of demons seemed partial to human flesh, or mindless killing.
"You know…" Dawn said after a moment. "No one's been killed since that girl you found last week." She looked at Xander, who pulled a face.
"Thanks for reminding me about that…" He muttered.
"Do you think the demon's moved on? Maybe Buffy and Cat scared it off." Dawn continued thoughtfully as though he hadn't replied. "Or it has a feeding pattern?"
"No one's been found since last week." Willow amended.
"Cheery…" Xander said.
"That's an interesting idea though." Tara told Dawn, wondering now, about feeding patterns.
"Uhoh…" Xander sounded nervous, looking down at the book in his lap.
"What?" Willow asked him.
"Got food on the book…"
Willow had offered to patrol with Buffy that night, worried about the prowling demon they had yet to identify. Buffy had said no, she could handle things alone. Not that Willow wasn't capable, it was just having someone along in case the demon turned up made it seem a lot more serious than Buffy wanted it to be. But now she was alone, past the witching hour with that supposedly unkillable demon out there, she wasn't so sure about being out alone. Company would be nice. Shadows seemed to shift, twisted by her imagination into that elongated, spindly-limbed creature with the burning eyes. Leaves buffeted along the ground by the wind behind her became soft whispering footsteps stalking her through the night. Mystery monsters always had her nerves on edge. Especially when she had no clue how to kill it. Though, when she next saw the beast she intended to part its head from its body. That ought to do the trick. Hopefully. She had brought her wakizashi along just in case. Short and slim, the Japanese short sword was easily concealed beneath her long coat. Nobody made a cutting edge like the Japanese. A flick of the wrist and the demon's head would be on the floor, as easily as slashing through butter.
She patrolled the suburbs that night, heading out of town towards one of the many cemeteries, alongside what would normally be a busy road, even at this time of night. She walked along a narrow pathway, cracked concrete bordered on one side by thick grass that desperately needed cutting and overgrown hedges on the other. Though she could easily have wandered along the middle of the road without incident. She hadn't seen or heard a car in the best part of an hour.
She flexed her fingers as she walked, digits stiffened by the cold, wishing she had thought to bring gloves. Her breath rose in a plume of fog before her face, dissipating gradually in the still night air. There were no clouds in the sky above, and the stars and moon shone brightly for all to see. Further up the road she could see the wide tarmacked driveway leading in and out of the cemetery. Though it was hidden by the protruding foliage of the last bush concealing the cemetery from view of the road, she knew the wrought iron gates would be locked. Not a problem for either the slayer or the undead. The gates could be easily scaled. But as she approached the driveway, she noticed the gates blocking access to the cemetery were ajar. On the ground before the gates was a pile of bright silver chains and a padlock. She crouched down to inspect the pile in the flickering orange glow of the streetlights, careful not to touch anything. Any damage or theft within the cemetery, or (more likely) freshly mutilated corpses, and the police would be crawling all over the place in the morning, dusting for fingerprints. She didn't want to have to explain that one…
Leaning down she could see the thick metal loop of the padlock had been cut. The edges looked smooth and sharp.
"Well, that's weird." She muttered, standing back up and eyeing the gates. She could hear nothing from within. No footsteps beyond.
The gap between the gates was just wide enough for Buffy to squeeze through without disturbing the hinges which were guaranteed to screech loudly and announce her arrival on the scene. Moving away from the light of the entrance, Buffy made her way further into the darkness of the cemetery, keen slayer senses reaching out and mapping the shadows that would otherwise have been near enough impenetrable. Headstones seemed to glow faintly in the moonlight and the raked gravel pathways between the neat rows appeared as faint shadows between deeper black. The only sound came from the soft gust of wind hissing through dead and dying leaves and grass, dry leaves rattling on tarmac and gravel. Buffy walked the road bisecting the cemetery, eyes searching for whoever or whatever had broken the lock at the gates. She saw nothing. The crypts and mausoleums were empty and still.
Buffy heaved a weary sigh as she reached the middle of the cemetery. Was there some kind of vampire all-you-can-eat buffet around somewhere that she didn't know about?
"And…we come to the conclusion of yet another pointless patrol." She muttered. In that moment her Spidey sense pinged and she whipped around to face the entrance gates. Seconds later she heard the pounding of feet, startled yelps and malicious laughter. She saw a disturbance amongst the foliage across the road, and finally a young woman burst free, hair tangled and face scratched from her fight with the bushes. Two burly men dashed out after her, brows ridged and eyes glowing yellow in the darkness. She tried to swerve down the road, towards town, but the vampires corralled her straight across towards the cemetery gates, laughing and jeering as three more vampires raced behind them.
"Okay, less pointless." Buffy said, pulling a wooden stake from the back of her waistband. Five vamps. Tough but doable.
The woman threw herself into the metal gates which squealed in protest as they opened inwards, and she barrelled forwards, eyes wide with fright. She stumbled through the gloom, not daring to look behind herself.
"Help me!" She cried desperately as she saw Buffy, running towards the slayer in a panic. Buffy stepped in front of the woman and spun the stake in her palm as the vampires raced after their prey. They could have caught up with her long before now. The chase had been a game to them, and that didn't sit well with the slayer. Not that catching and killing the woman before now would have sat well with her either.
The group of vampires slowed to a halt as they saw Buffy, their dinner cowering behind her.
"Well, would ya look at that, boys." Commented one. A big barrel chested guy with a buzz cut. Leader? Buffy wasn't sure. "Food's multiplied."
The vampires sniggered and fanned out menacingly. Buffy cracked a mirthless smile in response.
"Hi." She said. "I'm Buffy, and I'll be your slayer for this evening."
"Slayer?" Asked the weedy vampire nervously, backing away and glancing up at Buzz uncertainly.
"That's right. Now, who wants to die first?" Without waiting for an answer Buffy leaped forwards. The vampires scattered to escape the sudden rain of punches. Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy saw the woman fleeing the cemetery now that her attackers were more concerned with the sudden appearance of a slayer. Good. One less thing to worry about.
Buffy knew her odds of survival currently improved greatly with her ability to keep moving, and so she lashed out and sprang back, kicked and vaulted over heads. She kicked one vampire hard enough in the chest to crack ribs. As he flew backwards and slammed into a headstone she jumped back and made to stun the next vampire with a crack to the jaw, ready to plunge her stake into his chest. However, Buzz had other ideas and seized her from behind, pinning both arms to her sides. Buffy snapped her head back into his face and as his grip slackened in surprise she ducked down and pulled him over her shoulders. The weight of him almost brought her down too. Before she could stake him in his prone position the other vampires converged on her and she was forced to dart backwards and fend off several wild jabs and kicks. A tremor in the base of her spine and a tingling at the back of her head warned of danger approaching from behind and she felt her stomach tighten with the first notes of fear as she realized reinforcements were dashing towards her. Things were fast spiralling out of control.
She threw herself forwards, rugby tackling a vampire to the ground and springing instantly to her feet behind his comrades. She saw four more vampires racing across the cemetery towards her from hiding places at the back. From some creepy little crypt where they nested no doubt. She drew her sword and jumped back into the fray, slashing in the blink of an eye. As his head parted from his body the vampire burst into a cloud of ash. She ducked the grasping hands of Weedy and kicked his feet out from under him as the group of vampires spread out around her and paused the fight to suss out how best to charge a sword and stake-wielding slayer. Buffy was just contemplating how she could escape the cemetery when they rushed her. She held her own for a good few minutes, ducking and whirling and slashing, and managed to thin the ranks a little, but there were too many of them.
Buzz cracked an elbow against her temple and Buffy saw stars, felt cold undead hands seize her shoulders and throw her backwards. As she hit the ground she lost hold of her weapons. Nononono. No way was she going down because a few vamps got the upper hand. She flailed her limbs and shook her head to clear her vision, felt steely grips around her wrists and ankles. She grit her teeth and strained against the vampires holding her down, but it was six against one and she was on the ground. Four vampires had a limb each, one-a big biker guy-was using his weight against her chest to keep her down. Buzz loomed overhead, grinning at her as he seized her by the shoulders and dragged her up and backwards. She felt cold stone scraping her back and shoulders as the vampires pinned her atop a stone sarcophagus. Buzz's knuckles pressed down on her shoulders painfully. She bucked her hips as the biker vampire stepped backwards, trying wildly to free herself. There was no way this could be happening.
"Would you hurry up and bite her?!" Demanded one of the vampires. They were struggling to keep a hold of her as she wriggled and strained against their grasp.
"I'm savouring the moment." The biker snapped. Apparently he was the leader. "Ain't never had a Slayer before."
"Ain't having one now, either." There was the thrum of a bowstring and a thud. The biker staggered forwards and exploded into a cloud of ash, revealing a young woman behind him with a crossbow aimed at the ash cloud. Buffy strained her neck to stare at her saviour, and blinked in surprise.
"Hey, Buffy." Kennedy smirked. "Miss me?"